


Reunion

by TAG_StarlightChronicles



Series: Starlight Chronicles [5]
Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: F/F, F/M, Fanfiction, Gen, M/M, Multi, Original Character(s), Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-26
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-17 22:09:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 16,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29723976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TAG_StarlightChronicles/pseuds/TAG_StarlightChronicles
Summary: A Cardassian scientist has discovered an archaeological site on a planet near Cardassia Prime. After having been turned down by the Cardassian Government, he asks the Federation for help. The Federation sends the USS Starlight to conduct an investigation. Accompanied by the scientist himself, Ambassador Elim Garak and a Federation archaeologist, the Starlight sets out to investigate this archaeological site. What they find hidden on the planet is far more impactful than they ever could imagine.
Relationships: Fujita Diru/James Kirk, Julian Bashir/Elim Garak, William Riker/Deanna Troi
Series: Starlight Chronicles [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2000692
Comments: 6
Kudos: 5





	1. Prologue

DOCTOR JOVAK ZORALL WALKED the cracked and stained pavement that led to the Capitol. His footsteps echoed through the streets that had been empty ever since the Dominion War. People did not like to be out on the streets anymore. Even though more silent times had returned to Cardassia in the four years after the assassination of Alon Ghemor, the people of Cardassia had not yet recovered emotionally. They felt beaten after years of suffering and rebuilding. The past ten years had taken a great toll on the proud Union, first losing their independence to the Dominion, then having to accept their past-enemies of the Federation into their homes to build up their once beautiful empire as it lay to ruins.

Zorall hung his head in shame as he thought of the Bajoran people. The suffering of Cardassia was nil compared to what his people had done to those innocent creatures all throughout five long decades. Two years of partial oppression did in no sense compare to fifty years of total subjugation. Maybe this dishonour was the right price to pay for Cardassia’s past cruelties. Would they finally learn?

Zorall hoped so.

Even during the Bajoran Occupation, Zorall had been opposed to the domination of the Bajorans. He had never dared speaking these thoughts, feeling the breath of the Obsidian Order in his neck, but he had not liked the deeds of his people. Now, after having experienced oppression during the alliance between the Dominion and Cardassia, Zorall felt even stronger regret about the Occupation.

Perhaps, in some indirect way, Zorall’s feelings toward the injustice done by his own people had led to him becoming a scientist in this militarized state, and ultimately to his coming here today. He was on his way to the Capitol – the government building that rose high in between the simple beige structures. Now still, although the powerless Depata Council had been replaced and the Obsidian Order had fallen, the building evoked a strong feeling of fear in the scientist. From this place in Cardassia City, entire words had been conquered and laid to waste, uprisings had been crushed and the weak-minded had been banned. This was the control centre of the entire Cardassian Union. Any sane man would shy away at the sight of this place.

_Sane men._ Zorall hoped that there were more of those today than their had been ten years ago. Cardassia needed strong and bright minds to rebuild their empire. Minds like those of Corat Damar and the late Alon Ghemor. Ghemor had been the first Castellan of the Cardassian Union from 2376 to 2379, when he was assassinated by anti-Federation extremists. The Cardassian man had fought for re-unification of Cardassia through the Reunion Project that promoted the ideas of democracy, free speech, free beliefs and peace. At the end, despite opposition by the Directorate, Ghemor succeeded in establishing the democratic government that he had always wanted. He was most of the reason that the Cardassian Union was currently politically – relatively – stable and well on its way to again become the strong nation it once was.

After the death of Castellan Ghemor, it was said that Cardassia entered its darkest period since the Dominion War, as the Union seemed to crumble down once again. After having seen a few short-lived administrators, Rakena Garan finally arose from the ashes of the empire as Castellan, and brought Cardassia back to peace.

Right now, Zorall was on his way to see the castellan Garan with a personal request. As he had reached the entrance of the Capitol building, the man hurried inside. Zorall entered a broad hallway leading in three directions. The right led to the personal offices of the governors, he knew, and the left led to various rooms like the arsenal, the dining room and VIP quarters. The scientist also knew that a room at the far end of this hallway located a tunnel leading to one of the headquarters previously used by the Obsidian order.

However, the corridor that Zorall had to use was the one dead ahead of him. He followed the hallway for a couple of metres, until his passage was blocked by a pair of big, sturdy doors. The doors that led to the Council Hall. Zorall rang the chime that was located on the left side of the entrance, and pushed open the big doors.

He drew a deep breath as light entered the hallway through the opened doors. In front of the scientist lay a wide and well illuminated hall. The floor was filled with a small podium on the far end and various rows of benches in front of it. The black benches contrasted wildly with the matt beige of the rest of the building, the colour that the Cardassians seemed to process into all their structures.

However, what stood out the most to Zorall was the enormous painting on the floor of the Council Hall. It showed a detailed picture of an extensive star map of the star systems surrounding Cardassia, with Cardassia in the middle taking up most of the floor. Around it, Zorall saw dots representing systems such as Omekla, Pullock, Atbar and Velos. He also saw Bajor, painted in bright red a little on the right from the central shape of Cardassia, accompanied by the blue swirls that portrayed the doomned Bajoran wormhole that had led the Dominion into the Alpha Quadrant. But what disconcerted Zorall, was how the painting continued onto the walls and even onto the roof, new dots and swirls added as more and more planets and star systems had been discovered. Right overhead from Cardassia, taking such a dominant position in the artwork, Zorall saw the blue paint of the more recently added planet Earth – the planet that was so important to the United Federation of Planets, their old enemies and new allies.

Zorall walked across the Council hall to the front podium, where he knew the Castellan was seated during council meetings. As his footsteps echoed off the high walls that surrounded him, Zorall felt anxiety rise in his chest. He knew the Cardassian government were no longer in the business of killing those who opposed them, but the scientist had spend a lifetime of hiding his real opinions of the deeds of Cardassia. Letting go of the caution he learned to live with was a very slow process.

Zorall felt apprehensive at the thought of having to face the leader of his people. Yet he was excited, too. It was the first time in years that the man felt the freedom to request what he was about to, now Cardassia was no longer ruled by tyrants and power-hungry maniacs. Rakena Garan was supposed to be different.


	2. Chapter 1

“PERSONAL LOG, STARDATE 60127.0. Having completed our mission to Qo'noS, the _Starlight_ has been asked to return to Earth for a short amount of time to receive a new mission and for a few days of well-deserved R&R. Though I’m curious and excited what this new mission will bring – Admiral Kirug wasn’t willing to reveal anything yet – I am even more excited at the prospect of seeing my friends.

“This will be the second time I return to Earth since the launch of the _Starlight_ early last year, and the first time in good spirits. It’s been half a year since I’ve last seen my friends. I know Kathryn will be in San Francisco, where she is staying since she returned from her last mission to the Delta Quadrant a few months ago. Will and Deanna will be coming to Earth shortly, bringing in the _Titan_ for some R&R as well. They’ll be planet side for about two weeks. I hope and suspect I’ll have some time to see them before the _Starlight_ is ordered to set out for our new mission. Now all of us are busy with our own ships and projects, we barely get to see each other, which feels… odd, after having spent so many years with each of them.”

Diru leaned back in the chair in her ready room, and smiled. The prospect of seeing her friends made her excited. Now all of them were serving on different ships, she saw very little of them. That was different when Diru served on the _Enterprise_ -D and the only friends she had where its crew, or even on _Voyager_ despite being cut off from the Federation. On both ships, the crew had been almost like a family to here. They had seen each other every day and had shared every adventure. Now, Diru had made several friends during her current command, but none like those from the last two decades.

Diru knew she shared a very special bond with Janeway and even with Riker. She had known Janeway almost since the moment she arrived in this century, and it had been the first friendship she had formed. It was one of those bonds where you could swear you could hear the other person’s thoughts, even when they were not saying anything. Then, maybe Diru was, given she had weak telepathic powers. God, Diru could not even recall how often she and Kathryn had saved each other’s lives. For years, they had shared every laugh and every tear. Their trip to the Delta Quadrant had only made that bond stronger, when they had had to rely on each other daily to keep the crew of their ship safe. As the most high ranking officers, both of them had felt the pressure and loneliness of being forced to keep a certain distance from the rest of the crew, and they had been glad to have each other.

Diru had met Riker a few years after Janeway, but was definitely just as close with him as she was with her. She spend six years on a ship with him after all. She had seen Will grow up, in a way, as he went from “Baby-face Riker” to a well-respected and capable executive officer. And in the same way, he watched her go from tempered underdog and outlaw to– well, just the same but with a higher rank. In the years the spent on the _Enterprise_ -D together, Riker had grown up and Diru had regained a part of her youth.

Yet Diru had grown too, and in many ways, Riker had helped her. When she had come aboard the _Enterprise_ , Diru ahd been bittered by years of hard work and even more rejection, being thrown around from ship to ship over and over again, as she had been unable to find her place anywhere. Losing her husband and being torpedoed into another century – she had never been able to place herself in her new life. Until she met Riker, who had been the first one to believe in her. He had also been the first one to discover her identity as Admiral Fujita Diru, not just the lowly engineering ensign Diru. Riker had helped Diru regain not only her rank as admiral, but also her identity as officer and ultimately herself. His friendship had guided her out of her misery and had opened her to other relationships in the years aboard the _enterprise_ – which she had soon gained with Geordi, Data, Troi, Crusher and Picard.

Diru shook her head. Those were the good old days, but these were not so bad either.

“ _Captain, we’re approaching the Sol system._ ” The mechanical sounding voice of her first officer shook Fujita out of her reverie.

“On my way.” Diru rose from her chair and crossed her ready room until she reached the doors. Those opened with a _whoosh_ , and Diru entered the bridge. “Status,” she asked.

“We’ve dropped out of warp and have entered the Sol system, sir,” Anderson answered politely.

Diru nodded and walked over to her command chair. She turned to face the viewscreen that filled the forward section of the bridge. “It’s good to be home.”

*

Diru walked into the familiar building of Starfleet Headquarters, accompanied by Christopher Anderson. They walked over to the turbolift that was located across from the entrance, passing various uniformed aliens and Humans who were gathered around the tables which filled the HQ’s lobby.

While standing in the turbolift and commanding it to the eleventh floor, Diru noticed her XO looking at her. “What?” she asked, returning his look.

Anderson looked away. “Nothing, Captain.”

Fujita did not accept that answer and continued staring at Anderson, her gaze piercing.

Anderson raised his eyebrow. “I’m just curious what assignment demanded us to come all the way to Earth.”

“You’re just curious…”

The Human man shrugged. “Yes, sir.”

“I don’t believe that for one second.” Diru turned toward her officer and placed her hands in her sides.

Anderson scratched his neck. “Well, if you must know– I kind of have plans… so I wanted to ask you if I were free to go into the city after we’ve spoken with Admiral Kirug.”

“Are you visiting some girl?” Fujita lifted her eyebrows playfully, knowing fully well that she had not seen Anderson with any girl in the months she had known him. Except for his personal AI, that is.

Her XO grinned guiltily. “No. There’s a great tech shop just a few miles from here.”

Diru laughed heartily. _Chris and his tech_. “Of course your free to go. Better make use of every minute we get to spend on Earth. It might be months before we see this place again, after all.”

As Anderson nodded in return, the turbolift doors slid open and revealed the hallway laying behind them. Diru stepped out and strode toward the closest office, followed suit by her friend. Once at the door, she nudged the door chime.

“Come in!” a deep voice said from behind the walls. The command team entered the office of Admiral Kirug, an Andorian _thaan_ , who was sitting behind his desk. Diru noticed the padds spread around the table in a disorganised heap. _Whoever said Kirug isn’t the messiest admiral in the fleet was very wrong_.

Kirug stood up. “Ah, welcome Admiral, Commander.” The Andorian nodded at the two officers, respectively, and pointed towards two chairs. “Please sit down.”

Both Diru and Anderson took the admiral up on his offer and positioned themselves on the leather-lined chairs that were placed in front of the cluttered desk.

Kirug took a few padds off his table and lay them aside, creating another pile of the tabloids. He appeared to be searching for something. As he looked, he continued talking. “I can imagine the two of you are curious as to your presence here–”

Diru uttered an affirming response.

Kirug finally found what he was looking for and handed a small padd to Diru, who took it eagerly. She scanned over the text that was displayed on the pass, Anderson reading along over her shoulder.

“What is this?”

“That’s your assignment,” Admiral Kirug answered shortly. As Diru looked none the wiser, he continued. “Two months ago, we received this message from Jovak Zorall, a Cardassian scientist. An archaeologist, to be precise. In this letter, he explains that he found an archaeological site on Palroc III, a planet some 2.5 lightyears away from Cardassia Prime. He requested our aid in an investigation of the site he wants to conduct.”

“Why doesn’t the fair doctor just ask for a team of Cardassian scientists?” Anderson interjected. “That would seem more straightforward.”

“He did,” Kirug nodded. “He asked the Cardassian Castellan for permission to conduct this investigation, but the request was turned down. I suspect Castellan Garan wants all her men back on Cardassia Prime while the Cardassian Union is still rebuilding. So he turned to us for help.”

Diru pursed her lips. “It’s not every day a Cardassian asks Starfleet for help. What’s so special about this site?”

Kirug dug back into his pile of padds and took out another one, which he handed to Diru. It displayed various photographs of heaps of rocks and dust. As Diru looked closer, she realised these rocks were actually ruins. As she scrolled further into the document, she could make out the shapes of buildings, some completely with furniture and various instruments.

Admiral Kirug continued his story. “According to Dr. Zorall, these ruins aren’t Cardassian in origin, but Bajoran.”

“Bajoran?”

“Yes. This colony would seem to be a Bajoran one. Dr. Zorall wants to investigate exactly how this colony came to be so deep into Cardassian space, and how they came to their end.”

At that moment, Diru realised how much Cardassia had grown in the past decade. Going from oppressing a species and seeing them as second hand, to being interested in their culture and actually wanting to learn _more_ about them is quite a big step.

Besides, Diru started to become more and more interested in this site herself the more she learned about it. The Cardassians were certainly an interesting species. Though Diru was fluent in their language and had read a fair amount of Cardassian literature, she found she had much to learn about them and eagerly would.

However, she found the Bajorans even more interesting, especially after her experiences with them a decade ago when she served on _Deep Space Nine_ for a year. Their devotion to their gods – the Prophets – and especially their resilience during the Occupation was definitely honourable. The few Bajorans Diru had met and befriended in her life and taught her much about strength and commitment to a cause and to justice. Fifty years of continual fighting– that was quite something.

Diru noticed her thoughts wandering to her old friend Kira Nerys, when she realised Admiral Kirug had continued talking.

“Your assignment is a straightforward one. I don’t except you’ll run into much trouble along the way, but you never know that deep into Cardassian territory. I suspect not all Cardassians are as happy with our growing relationship with the Cardassians as Dr. Zorall is.

“In eight days, you are to go to Cardassia Prime, where you will pick up Dr. Zorall. Then you will go to Palroc III, where you will conduct an investigation according to Starfleet regulations but in consultation with Zorall. It’s his project, don’t do anything that’s against his wishes.” Kirug eyed Diru closely as he said this, to which she responded with slightly raised eyebrows. “You will accompanied by one of our own archaeologists, Lieutenant-Commander Eo-!-Ej. Xe will be arriving in San Francisco tomorrow, where xe will receive a last briefing. The xe will report to the _Starlight_. Lastly, Ambassador Elim Garak will accompany you as well, as liaison between the Cardassian government and Starfleet. Is everything clear?”

“Just one thing. Why, exactly, was the _Starlight_ chosen for this mission? We might be an exploratory vessel, but this isn’t our usual type of assignment.”

“Your ship accommodates one of the biggest and most distinguished team of scientists and more importantly _archaeologists_. Command felt it were only right to show our new allies our good intensions by assigning them out best people. Is that good enough for you?” The last, Kirug said with a hint of humour in his voice.

Diru threw her colleague a lopsided smile, excited at the prospect of this new – although different than what she was used to and perhaps filled with less action – mission. “Aye, sir.”


	3. Chapter 2

ANDERSON ENTERED A SMALL adjacent to the main road leading from Starfleet Headquarters to the touristic centre of San Francisco. The small corridor – scarcely more than an alleyway made as shortcut in the space between two rows of old buildings – was almost claustrophobically narrow and so old that the walls seemed to contain more filth, build up in years of disuse, than actual stone. The street was entirely deserted, except for the hollow footsteps of Christopher Anderson and the woman who followed behind him.

Athena kept up perfectly with her maker, falling precisely in stride with his steps, as he had programmed the artificial intelligence to do. On her soft blue tunic, loosely fit around her slim contours and dancing around her bare ankles, the mechanical triangle of her mobile emitter was displayed. Anderson had copied the technology from the similar devise which the Emergency Medical Hologram aboard _Voyager_ used when the ship returned from the Delta Quadrant. He retrofitted the device to the exact needs of his own AI.

In the distance, an old-fashioned sign board appeared, hanging from the dark brick wall. The sign, brown paint peeling off and showing the metal underneath, depicted the image of an antiquated sprocket-wheel and pliers.

Anderson and Athena strode the last few meters toward the sign, next to which an oak wooden door became apparent inside of the wall. Anderson knocked on the door, which creaked with every touch. Athena waited patiently behind her maker.

After a few minutes, the door opened and revealed the dim hallway behind it. In the opening of the door, a dark-skinned face emerged. He looked cautious as first, then a broad smile split his face in half as he seemed to recognise the executive officer of the _Starlight_ and his energy-and-light assistant. The Kobliad man threw his hands in the air and proclaimed, “Come in! Come in!” Pulling the man in front of his door inside, he continued excitedly, “It’s always good to see you, old friend! And I saw you brought your pretty lady, as well.”

As Athena stepped inside, the Kobliad extended his hand to her and she offered her own. He rose brought her hand up to his face and kissed it in an old-fashioned Human gesture. “Welcome, darling.”

Anderson had stepped past the Kobliad into the hallway. Though he was facing inside, his face contoured as the man said ‘darling’. Turning around swiftly, he spoke to the Kobliad. “Tiro! Let’s get right down to business, old sport, shan’t we?”

At those words, The Kobliad named Tiro let go of Athena’s hand and led the two guests to a room adjoining to the hallway they had entered through. Just as the corridor itself, this room was dressed entirely in an ancient 18th century fashion, with flaking pastel pink coloured wallpaper protruding on the wooden walls. In the middle of the chamber, a dark wooden table was positioned, surrounded by heavily adorned chairs, their upholstery the same light pink and decorated with flowers and plants. Even the old paintings on the walls were in 18th century style. Their well-kept appearance and fresh looking paint contrasted with the paint on the walls, showing their authenticity and their apparent value to their owner.

Tiro crossed the chamber and pulled on the artwork in the left hand corner of the room. A hidden door materialised next to the painting, where the wall had apparently been nothing more than a holographic projection. Tiro entered a command on the panel next to the door, which opened the next second. Anderson and Athena followed the Kobliad, who led the duo through the doorway.

The room that lay behind the door was just as different from the one the group had just left, as Klingon literature was from that of the Aenar. The walls of the chamber consisted of a dark type of metal, eying almost black in the dim illumination. The entire floor was stacked with modern metal tables filled with various pieces of technology. The stacks of equipment rose so high, they almost touched the low-hanging roof above.

Tiro turned toward his guests, who were waiting patiently at the entrance to the stockroom. “Well, you know how it works. Let me know if you see anything good, and I’ll take you to the shop after.” With these words, Tiro spun around one more time and disappeared through a door at the other end of the room.

Anderson looked at his AI, who had stopped at his side. “You take the left side, I take the right,” he ordered politely, and the hologram did as he said. He watched her cross the distance to the table that leaned against the left wall, and let his gaze linger just a little longer after she had started searching through the large piles of tech. Then he turned his attention toward the other side of the room, where he started scanning another pile of equipment.

After half an hour, Anderson and Athena had worked their way through most of the tools in the room, and they met each other at the middle table.

“Found anything good, dear?”

Athena lifted a tray – which she had filled in the time the two had been searching separately – with her slender hands, and presented the variety of tools it displayed. “I found a number of pieces which I am positive you will find useful. I also included four items that you did not request, but I except to be suitable additions, and one for personal use.”

“Thank you.” Anderson took the first piece of technology off the tray and inspected it. He turned the mechanical tool in his callused hands, eying every millimetre of it precariously. The tool was a certain type of small particle synthesiser, equipped with compact filters and generators.

Anderson shook his head. “This, has been tampered with. Throw it in the bin, would you? I don’t think the good sir Tiro would find it worth much.”

As Athena took hold of the synthesiser and searched the stockroom for a garbage disposal, Anderson shifted his attention to another piece of equipment. This was a portable emitter array, used for various purposes such as personal shields and force fields, portable transporters and small scale tractor technology. While the usage of emitter arrays was mostly used for starships and other spacecraft, smaller variations of the tools could be extremely useful. It was truly a rare find.

The Starfleet officer pocketed the piece of technology, and continued through the tools his assistant had picked out for him, taking some and returning others to the piles of scrap. In a short while, the Human was content with his finds and made ready to leave the room. Followed by Athena, Anderson walked over to the door Tiro had disappeared through. He pushed a key on the door panel, and moments later the dark face of Tiro reappeared.

“Find anything good?” he said.

Anderson nodded. “Certainly. This stash of yours keeps turning out to be a goldmine. I’ll pay you well.”

The Kobliad smiled broadly. “That’s why I let you go through my entire stack before I put it in the shop. You have nice money. That, and I get the opportunity to lay an eye on that fine lady of yours, of course.”

The smile turned into a filthy grin, and Anderson saw Tiro’s eyes wandering from his face to Athena’s, and down to her chest. Anderson quickly stepped in front of his AI, hiding her from Tiro’s piercing gaze. The eyes of the Human man had turned a shade darker than before, and as next he spoke, his voice seemed to have dropped a few tones, as well. “Watch it, old sport.” Though his choice of words seemed to portray friendship, Anderson’s voice left no doubt of his real intentions.

Tiro bit his lip, and must have decided he had gone far enough, because he walked back through the entrance he had come from and gestured for his guests to follow suit.

*

Troi picked up a plate filled with a delicious looking Ratogian salad, and crossed the apartment’s kitchen to the dinner table, where she put her plate down. “Is there anything else I can do?” the Betazoid asked politely, aiming her question at her host Admiral Kathryn Janeway.

Janeway shook her head. “You’ve already done more than enough. Thank you, Deanna.” The admiral softly put her hand on the woman’s arm, ushering her toward the filled dinner table.

Troi took the hint, and sat down on a chair next to her smiling husband. As William Riker planted a quick kiss on her cheek, Troi sensed the happiness that had filled the room in the last hours. She could not help but return her husband’s smile, as she basked in the warm feeling.

Food on the table and a lovely woman as host. That was enough to make anyone happy. Add a sleeping dog in the corner and the man you love on the chair next to you, and you have all the ingredients for a perfect evening.

“The _reghatorg_ is almost ready.” Janeway’s room coming from the kitchen broke Troi’s reverie.

“I can’t wait,” Riker called back, his sincerity clear even without empathic abilities.

Janeway peeked her head around the door frame, her auburn hair falling loosely over her shoulder. “When did you say Fuj would arrive?”

Riker checked a time devise on the wall opposite of him. “Twenty minutes ago.”

Now, Janeway appeared in all her full glory, her gloved hands carrying a glass bowl filled with something which vaguely resembled a stuffed chicken. The dish was in fact some type of Terellian pheasant, filled with various typed of greenstuff from different planets in the quadrant. “I told her to be on time. The reghatorg will be ruined if we wait any longer.”

“I’m sure she’ll be here momentarily,” Troi reassured the two friends, although she sensed there was no real negativity in the room.

As Janeway put down her plate of alien bird, her dog Kes jumped up and uttered one loud bark. All three people in the room turned toward the dog, then toward the front door. It was opening slowly. A hand peeked around the corner of the door first, then a black and mustard Starfleet uniform followed and the woman wearing it was revealed.

“Fujita!” Janeway crossed her apartment in sprint and fell around the neck of her bedazzled old friend.

“That’s quite enough,” the woman managed to sputter as the tight arms of her fellow admiral attempted to choke the air out of her lungs. Yet, her face betrayed her excitement was equal to that of the woman around her shoulders.

Janeway let go, but left her hands on her friend’s shoulders. “What am I happy to see you again. How have you been?”

Diru pushed the woman aside and crossed the living room of the apartment to where her other two friends were still seated.

“Oh, you know, just ship business.”

Janeway scoffed. “A little more info, please.”

Before Diru could answer, Riker had thrown his large body around the poor woman as well, hugging her just as tightly as Janeway had. Diru tried to push him off, but failed until Will let go himself.

“What is it with you people today! It’s as if I’ve just come back after seven years of touring through the other side of the galaxy!”

This left all three others in the room laughing heartily. The atmosphere in the room had grown increasingly pleasant, surges of excitement splitting the air. Troi noticed ever the slightest amount of weariness, however. She concluded that her friends were experiencing some worry aimed at Diru, as was she. It had only been a few months since the woman had suffered the loss of her daughter, after all. This was the first time all of them were together since the funeral.

After having exchanged niceties and shared the latest news, The two admirals, captain and commander had sat down around the laden dinner table and filled their plates with food.

“So tell me, what’s this new assignment of yours?” Riker asked Diru.

“Will, no work talk at dinner, please,” Troi interjected lovingly. She was in the mood for light stories and friendly fun. There would be plenty of work waiting for them went they returned to the _Titan_.

However, Diru said, “It’s okay, Deanna. It’s an interesting assignment actually. We’re being sent to a Cardassian planet to conduct an archaeological investigation.”

“Archaeological?” Janeway rose her eyebrows.

“Yes,” Fujita nodded. “A Cardassian scientist discovered the ruins of a Bajoran colony on this planet, and requested our aid.”

Riker leaned backward in his chair. That’s something different that fighting stray Klingons,” he said, referring to the _Starlight_ ’s last assignment, where they had to deal with a group of malicious Klingon that were somehow transported to Qo’noS from the previous century and had been attacking the Federation ambassy.

“Sure is,” Diru agreed. “To be entirely honest, I don’t mind this more laid-back mission. We’ve been on the edge of our chairs for months now, back on the _Starlight_. Thinking of, I don’t think we’ve had much of a peaceful moment ever since we launched last year, it’s been crisis after crisis.” Troi knew Diru’s mind was wandering to the events in the middle of the previous year as well, however uninvitedly, when her daughter had been killed. “It’s a nice change of pace.”

“Be careful what you wish for,” Janeway interjected. Deanna felt that sudden sadness return, this time irradiating from the older admiral. She eyed the woman, unsure where this nostalgia had come from.

The other guests had not seemed to notice Janeway’s change in mood, as they dove back into the piles of food on the table. Changing the subject, Diru uttered a content noise. “This reghatorg is _really_ good, Kate. I forgot how well of a cook you are.”

Having put her shot-lasted sadness aside – Deanna no longer sensed this feeling in the woman – Janeway smiled. “I’ve got to do something as long as I’m stuck at HQ, don’t I?”

Diru chuckled. “I told you to get out as long as you still could. I did.”

Troi could not help but smile. An interesting bunch they were, two admirals, a captain and a commander; each one of them had been serving in Starfleet for over two decades and each one of them had risen through the ranks to the elite positions they now held. Yet, none of them felt in any way drawn to the desk work the admiralty offered – even though two of them were indeed a part of this admiralty. Each on their own, they were officers made for action. They felt home at the frontline, right in the line of fire, where all the action happened. They needed to execute the commands, not hand them out from the safety of an office. Yet, they did not feel particularly comfortable _receiving_ commands either. All of them were extremely stubborn that way.

*

Having finished and cleared the dinner, the four friends were now seated in Janeway’s small living room, enjoying their coffees and bowls of chocolate ice cream – at request of Troi. Feeling rosy from stuffing themselves with the delicious meal that Janeway had prepared, they were conversing softly, jazz music subtly filling the pallet of background noises.

Petting the sleeping Kes in her lap, Janeway stared out of the window, apparently sunken in thoughts. Troi sensed the same suppressed desolation she had before.

Diru must have noticed it too, because she faced her friend and carefully checked her out. “Everything okay?”

Janeway took a second to respond, then turned to face the fellow admiral and opened her mouth to speak. She closed it again, and looked down at the dog on her legs.

Now everyone in the room had turned to the admiral, who, Troi felt, was growing increasingly uncomfortable.

Diru put a tender hand on Kathryn’s lap – a gesture which confirmed to Troi that the woman had also noticed the gloom of _Voyager_ ’s ex-captain, as the Daelan woman was usually very reserved with expressing physical affection. “Kate?” the admiral asked, her voice soft but commanding, her eyebrows slightly lifted.

Janeway shook her head. “It’s nothing, really. I don’t want to kill the mood.”

“It might be a little late for that.”

Janeway sighed, and finally looked up to face Fujita. “They’re kicking me off Project Full Circle.”

Troi felt shock wave through the room, but before any of them had time to process this news, a sound chimed from the room adjacent to this one – Janeway’s office, Troi knew.

On the beat, Diru got up and crossed the room to the office. “I’ll have a look at whatever that is,” she said. With that, she disappeared through the door that separated the work room and the living room, and left Janeway in the capable hands of Troi and Riker.

Troi watched her friend and colleague leave. As soon as she had gone from view, she shifted her focus back to her host. “What do you mean, they’re kicking you off Full Circle?”

Shaking her head again, Janeway started to explain. “I overheard two of Admiral Montgomery’s assistants talking. They mentioned a change in project personnel early next year. Apparently, they think I’m no longer suited to be in the project.”

Riker chimed in. “Why would they–”

Before the Alaskan man could finish his sentence, the doors leading to the office reopened and spew out an even bigger sense of shock than was already present in the room. All eyes turned toward the returning Diru, who’s eyes revealed utter disbelief and confusion.


	4. Chapter 3

ANDERSON AND ATHENA HAD split up. They were both searching through opposite sides of the shop, which was located behind the stockroom where they had been before. Through windows in the front of the shop, the crowded main street of San Francisco’s centre was visible. The sunny day had brought many people out, but Anderson was not paying attention to them. He was focussed on a piece of technology in his hand.

Anderson turned the binary matrix around in his hands, scanning all components of the tool. Deciding it was no good, he put the part back. While he did so, the commander looked over his shoulder, checking on Athena in the back of the room. She was still searching the racks of equipment, as he had sent her off to find something for herself. Satisfied that she would be occupied for a while longer, Anderson headed off to find the store owner, the Kobliad named Tiro who had helped him and his assistant before.

Tiro was sitting behind the counter near the exit of the shop, where he was working on the computer panel on the desk. Anderson knew the computer was meant for administration mostly, but he was aware that it was also used for making transactions. The Federation might no longer use money at a large, but that certainly did not mean all trading happened cashless. A lot of species outside of the Federation _did_ still value money a great deal, in some way or another, and that was appealing to many traders and merchants in the Federation.

While tourists could come into Tiro’s shop and take pieces of technology without paying, Tiro customarily stored his goods with _real_ value back in his stockroom. There, customers like Anderson could go. Customers who were prepared to lay down large sums of money.

However, the stockroom was not the only room where Tiro stored special goods.

The Kobliad had seen Anderson approach. He got up from the chair he had been sitting on, and moved toward his customer. “Off down?” He asked.

The Human nodded, and followed Tiro to a door in the back of the shop. The door led to a stairwell that fared onto the deep. The two men descended the stairs and entered another part of the shop.

This room was arranged in much the same way as the stockroom had been, just much less filled. Each table held one or two items, placed carefully on a bed of packaging material.

Tiro stopped near the door, his arms crossed in front of his chest, as Anderson walked on. The science officer threw one glance through the room, then headed straight to the second table from the right. He picked up the interplexing beacon that was held on the desk. “I’ll take it.”

*

Back upstairs, Anderson returned to Athena’s side, the interplexing beacon still in his hand. The rest of his items were stored behind the counter, where to Tiro had retreated.

“Are you finished?” Athena asked, stuffing her own pieces of equipment in a bag. Her lovely voice brought a smile to Anderson’s face.

“I am. I found some very good long-range communication tech, and some things for _our_ project.”

Athena nodded and turned away from the table of tech. Anderson followed her lead, and suddenly found himself staring in the face of one of _Starlight_ ’s junior engineers. Quickly – and he hoped unnoticeably – he hid the interplexing beacon behind his back.

“Ensign Hollis! I wasn’t aware you were interested in tech.”

The junior officer turned toward her superior. “I’m an engineer,” she said, a hint of humour in her young voice.

Anderson felt like he could hit himself. Of _course_ she was interested in tools and pieces of technology, which engineer _wasn’t_?

“Excuse me, Commander,” the girl continued, “I need something–”

The Human understood the hint and moves aside, allowing Ensign Hollis to grab a piece of equipment from behind him. “There you go,” he said, and he carefully repositioned the beacon behind his back so she would not see it.

Taking Athena’s hand, he quickly pulled the hologram away from the engineer and walked over to a table a few metres aside. He let out a deep breath once both of them were out of Hollis’ sight. “Remind me to check that none of our crew is here next time we’re buying something off the black market.

Athena acknowledged him with a nod.

Now the duo had found everything they needed, they were ready to return to Tiro and retrieve the rest of their stack. Before Anderson could do so, however, his combadge let through the voice of his commanding officer.

“ _Diru to Anderson_.”

“Anderson here, sir.”

“ _Are you somewhere private?_ ”

“No, but give me a minute and I will be.” The science officer handed his beacon to Athena, curious as to his commanding officer’s reason for this call. He walked outside quickly, and dove into the first alleyway he found.

“Anderson to Diru,” he said. “What’s going on?”

“Chris, Dr. Zorall has been killed.”

*

The senior crew had gathered in the observation lounge on board _Starlight_. Looking around the room, Diru noticed the crummy faces of her officers. None of them appreciated their holiday being cut short. Many of the Human officers among the crew had been visiting family members they had been unable to see for months, and almost everyone had either been with friends or had simply gone planetside to relax. Only a skeleton crew had been forced to stay on board; they had been meant to get leave in a few days, but had missed their chance.

“I’m terribly sorry to have to end your holiday,” Diru said, “but certain developments are forcing us to leave for Cardassia Prime as soon as possible.”

The Captain nodded toward Anderson, who was standing near the presentation monitor. He entered a series of commands, and a set of images appeared on the screen.

“I received disturbing news from Admiral Kirug just a few hours ago,” Diru continued, still facing her officers.

The crew themselves were each staring at the monitor, depicting low-quality photographs of a Cardassian street. The first picture showed a Cardassian man, dressed in a grey-brown garment, who was walking down between the rows of beige buildings. Next, it showed that same man. This time he was approached by a Cardassian woman, dressed in similar clothing. The couple was presented to be having a conversation– rather a discussion, on the next set of pictures. Their mannerisms – as far as could be told from still photographs – became increasingly heated.

The next pictures seemed to have skipped forward in time, as the woman had vanished again, and the man had continued further into the street, growing increasingly small in the distance.

“What are we looking at, Captain?” senior diplomatic officer Kalan Hayatta asked. The Bajoran sat on the right side of the table, closest to the screen. Beside her sat Commander B.J., who served the dual roles of chief tactical officer and chief security officer.

Diru gestured to her XO, who entered another round of commands. The low-quality widespan photographs on the monitor changed to zoomed in pictures with higher quality.

A wave of murmurs went through the row of officers. On the screen, it showed the lifeless and bloodied body of a Cardassian man – presumably the one they had seen on the other photographs.

“As many of you know, our original mission was to go to Cardassia Prime to pick up the Cardassian scientist who contacted us – Dr. Jovak Zorall. Unfortunately, he was murdered this afternoon.”

 _Unfortunately_. Diru scolded herself for her choice of words. _As if the only disadvantage of his death is that it’s inconvenient to us._ Of course, that was not what she meant.

“Murdered?” Jastre Ochiovik leaned forward onto the large wooden table. “By whom?”

Diru answered, “We don’t know.”

“Do _we_ not know, or do the _Cardassians_ not know?” Commander B.J. interjected.

The admiral shrugged. “I can’t smell what the Cardassians do and don’t know, I only know what the Cardassian government told Admiral Kirug, and what he told me in turn. Maybe they know more than they’re letting on, but we shouldn’t forget the fact that they can no longer make use of the Obsidian Order. I suspect no one really knows what’s going on here.” Diru did not want to think about the fact that it could also be that _Admiral Kirug_ knew more than he was letting on. It would not be the first time that the rest of the admiralty would be cutting her off.

A moment of silence filled the room. Anderson shut off the monitor and sat down at the left hand of his captain. Everyone seemed to be sunken in thought, their brilliant minds presumably racing to find a logical answer to the question all of them had. _Who killed Zorall?_

“What do we know about this man?” Kalan asked. “Did he have any enemies on Cardassia?”

Anderson jumped in. “From what we were able to find out about Dr. Zorall – which is not much – he didn’t. He kept quiet during the Bajoran Occupation, and even in the years since he’s never done anything publicly important. Politically, he doesn’t seem interesting at all. Socially– we just don’t know.”

“What about the Maquis? Could ex-members be looking for retaliation?” Doctor Harry McCoy joined the conversation.

“They’re gone, Doctor. The Maquis were wiped out years ago,” Kalan shot back, her tone a little harder than it had been before.

“The Maquis itself is, yes, but surely there are still ex-members out there. And surely, some of them are still angry.”

“Everyone, please,” Diru rose her hands in a calming gesture. “Someone should find out who murdered Dr. Zorall, I agree but we have different matters on our hands right now. Admiral Kirug ordered us to depart for Cardassia Prime right away.”

Kalan turned to het captain. “Are you saying that a stupid archaeological site is more important than a _murder_?”

Diru rose an eyebrow, and the Bajoran woman abruptly shut her mouth. “Sorry, Captain.”

“That’s okay.” It was not the first time Kalan was a little too fierce for her own good. “Of course that’s not what I’m saying. But Dr. Zorall was killed while working on this investigation, so there’s a big chance that site has something to do with his death. Perhaps there is something someone doesn’t want to be found. At any rate, I want to go there and see if we can find any clues as to why Zorall had to die.

“In the meanwhile, we _are_ going to investigate that settlement as we otherwise would have. The Federation made Zorall a promise, and just because he died doesn’t mean we can break that promise.” Diru looked at the nine worried faces in the room. Each of them seemed to agree with her.


	5. Chapter 4

TWO ALIEN FIGURES EMERGED on the transporter pad. One bore the familiar features of a Cardassian; the other belonged to a species Diru had never seen before with her own eyes. Zir black scaled skin shone brightly in the transporter room lights, translucent purple feathers – protruding from zir neck and back, all the way to zir tail – wavered slightly with every breath.

Unsure how to properly great the four-legged Ewi, Diru clapped her hands together and smiled. “Welcome aboard.”

Ambassador Elim Garak and Specialist Eo-!-Ej stepped off the transporter pad and neared the Human woman and her second in command, who was standing next to her. Garak immediately dashed forward, and offered his grey hand to Diru. “It’s an honour to be on your ship, my dear Admiral.”

“The honour is all mine, mister Tailor.” Fujita accepted the Cardassian’s extended hand.

Garak scanned the Human carefully, his eyes darting from her face to her feet and back. “Yet me guess,” the man continued, “you are still blindly following the rules, as appertains to you dipassionate Federation admirals?”

Diru tilted her head. “Of course. Just as you are still lying your way through life, I presume, as the spy you are?”

“Evidently.”

Diru felt a sting in her side. As she glanced aside, she saw Anderson facing her with big eyes. He had nudged her with his elbow to get her attention.

“What’s going on?” the first officer said, his voice near a whisper.

Diru looked at Anderson’s confused face, back at Garak and once again at Anderson. She started laughing. “Wipe that fear off your face, Commander,” she grinned, laying her hand on his shoulder.

Then she turned back to the Cardassian, who’s eyes were twinkling brightly. “It’s good to see you again, Elim.”

The woman shifted her gaze to the Ewi officer behind the ambassador. “Welcome, Commander. I’m Admiral Fujita Diru, and this–” she gestured toward Anderson, “–is my first officer Christopher Anderson. I hope your trip to Earth was well.”

The Ewi swayed zir tail and answered, “Very well, thank you, Admiral.” Zir voice was oddly high for the size of zir body; ze must have been almost three metres high, as zir head almost reached the transporter room ceiling, and zir tail hung over the full length of the transporter pad.

“Good, good. Please, allow me show you around the ship.” Diru motioned for both Garak and Eo-!-Ej to follow her, which they did. Anderson was the last to exit the transporter room. He soon caught up with Diru, and fell in stride next to her.

The next hour or so, the group strolled through the many decks of the _Starlight_ , visiting the bridge, engineering, the science and security departments, the infirmary, and lastly the mess hall that had been named the Square by its bartender.

The two guests seemed positively impressed with the sleek appearance and smooth manning of the starship. Eo-!-Ej commented enthusiastically on the efficiency of the science department, where ze reviewed the currently running projects and offered help here and there. Garak seemed more interested in the bridge functions and – interestingly – the mess hall.

“Where better to learn the ins and outs of a people than in the place they come to unwind?” he answered when Diru mentioned this.

The captain had introduced their guests to Kenna McIntyre, _Starlight_ ’s bartender and Diru’s friend. The colonial Human woman cheerfully offered Garak and Eo-!-Ej a drink, which the latter politely declined and the former accepted just as civilly.

“I’ve never met a full Cardassian before,” McIntyre noted.

Th Ambassador smiled. “I hope I’m a satisfactory example of my species.”

Kenna nodded with feigned resolution. “A handsome man like you? Definitely.”

Diru smiled. It was a good thing McIntyre was romantically involved, or she would have needed a serious word with her bartender. Flirting with an ambassador is not the first thing that came to Diru’s mind when thinking of polite curtesy. Thinking of, the captain was not sure the Cardassian was particularly interested. She knew he had been close friends– maybe more than friends with a Starfleet officer back in the day. And if the rumours were true, that fling had not yet died out.

Leaving Garak in the capable hands of her friend, Diru guided Eo-!-Ej to the quarters that had been appointed to zir.

“You have a very lovely ship,” the Ewi said while they were walking.

“I sure do,” Diru returned, not shy to show pride in her ship and crew.

“The officers I met all seem very nice, very capable. I feel this crew is very close, that’s good. Not everyone has that luck.”

“I’m a lucky captain.” Diru noticed a hint of disappointment in Eo-!-Ej’s voice. “I feel like you haven’t always experienced that same luck as officer, am I right?”

Eo-!-Ej swung xir tail. “You’re good with people, aren’t you, Admiral?”

Diru chuckled. “Not particularly, to be honest. Socially, that is. Diplomatically – or however you want to call it – I suppose I picked up a thing or two in my life. And please, you don’t have to call me admiral.”

“Sir, then. And you’re right. My time as ambassador for my people was rather… unpleasant. When I came to the Federation, I didn’t feel at home immediately. I never had a crew to call my ‘family’. I spend some time travelling around and rom crew to crew until I found my home on Trill. It was not the most pleasant of times. Rather, it was particularly unpleasant.”

The Human looked at the so clearly alien-looking being next to her. Surely, ze found humanoids just as strange. Non-humanoids were still very underrepresented in the Federation. Even though all species were welcome, Diru was reluctant to admit that some prejudice toward non-humanoids still existed. There were people who find those who were so very different from them… strange. Although Diru understood where that feeling came from, in an evolutionary sense, it was lost on her. Substantively, she understood why the archaeological scientist would have felt like an outsider.

“You’re welcome here, for as long as you want to stay.”

Eo-!-Ej lowered zir head. “Thank you, sir. I appreciate that very much. I don’t intend to stay any longer than necessary, however, I have a number of projects running back home.”

Halting near the set of door that hid the guest quarters the Ewi would be staying in, Diru nodded. “I understand. I hope your stay here will be a pleasant one.” The admiral entered a series of commands on the panel next to the doors, which slid open.

“I’m positive I will, sir. If you’ll allow me to repeat myself, I _really_ think your ship is wonderful. I feel many good years are waiting for all of you.” The specialist then stepped inside the quarters and the doors closed.

 _What a pleasant person_ , Diru thought. She appreciated Eo-!-Ej’s openness, hypocritically as that may sound coming from herself. She did not meet someone as polite and unrestricted as this Ewi every day.

*

Someone who definitely was not as open as Eo-!-Ej, was Ambassador Elim Garak. After Diru and the scientist had left, he had stayed behind in the mess hall. Presently, the Cardassian was sitting in a table near the side of the room, where he had a clear view of the entire bar, but where he did not feel too constricted. He stared at the many faces present in the room. Among them was a variety of species; Human, Vulcan, Betazoid, Tellarites, Bolians, Benzites – he even saw a Jem-Hadar, which he found an unexpected sight on a Federation starship.

Each of the officers were sitting at different tables that were scatted through the semi-round room – which Garak found ironic, since the bar was called the “Square”. He would have to ask about that, somewhen during this journey on the _Starlight_.

The officers were divided in mostly smaller groups of two to four people, with one big group sitting at the opposite side of the bar from where Garak was. This group consisted of several officers wearing red or mustard coloured uniforms, most of them ensigns of petty officers.

Garak noticed their varied origins. Sitting around the table where an Aurelian, a Vulcan, a Terellian, an Andorian – although Garak notice a green hue in her skin that suggested partial Orion DNA – a Caitian and a Yiridian. The more surprising dight to the Cardassian was the presence of a Oiheg, an enormous goat-like species, which Garak had never before seen in his life. Among the group were also two young Human women, the only Humans present in the room apart from McIntyre. Reckoning that, Garak realised he had seen surprisingly little Humans aboard this ship. He estimated only some fifth of the crew he had seen was from Human origin – a percentage he had come to know was very low for Starfleet vessels. Although Starfleet was open for all Federation species and also accepted various from outside, throughout history Humans had always held the biggest share of positions in the fleet.

The XO Anderson was no longer present in the bar. He had left his guest shortly after his commanding officer, needing to attend to matters on the bridge. Garak was glad to have a moment for himself before the long sixteen standard day journey to his home planet.

Although, ‘to himself might’ not be entirely the right words to use. Ever since he had come in, the Cardassian had felt the pretty eyes of barman Kenna McIntyre pointed at him. Ever so often, she had approached him to offer him a drink, as well, which he politely accepted.

Now, the bartender was coming his way again, a filled glass in hand. Although the glass was almost entirely filled with a bright blue liquid, McIntyre was walking gracefully as if she were holding nothing more spillable than a piece of rock.

“I saw you finished your Altairian brandy, could I offer you another one?”

When the Human woman reached toward the table to put down the glass, Ambassador Garak grabbed her wrist, almost causing her to spill his drink.

Kenna abruptly let go of the glass and pulled her hand free from the reptile-like man’s claw. “What the hell?” she bellowed.

“I do apologise,” Garak expressed. “Please sit down.”

“Why?”

Garak eyed the woman with a face still as a mask. “You have been fixated on me all afternoon. You might as well sit down talk to me, miss McIntyre.”

The bartender pulled up a chair and sat promptly, her arms crossed in front of her chest.

“Tell me, why are you so interested in me?” Garak’s voice was soft but forceful, confident.

“I’m not.”

Scanning the soft face of his collocutor, Garak noticed she was barely more than a girl. Her short pink-and-blue hair framed her face joyfully, her eyes shone gleefully. As far as Garak could tell, sitting across from him was a beautiful but simple bartender. His instincts told him there was more to this youngling, however.

“You’re analysing me, aren’t you?” Her eyes twinkled. What was this kid so excited about?

Garak angled his head, the ridges on the sides of his nek bulging as he moved. “Perhaps.”

“You’re exactly like Julian told me you were. Like, exactly, right down to the way you move and talk. Astonishing.”

 _Julian._ Garak felt a shock pass through him. A warm shock, but a shock nonetheless. “What do you know about Julian?” The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them.

A smile grew on McIntyre’s face. “See, I knew there was something going on between the two of you. The way my uncle is always talking ‘bout you– he’s just a little _too_ passionate.”

 _Julian talks about me_. That was the first thing Garak though. Then the next realisation came. “Dr. Bashir is your uncle?”

“Julian is, yes. His mother is the sister of my grandmother.”

This afternoon was growing increasingly interesting.

The girl cheerily chattered on. “Is it true you were a Cardassian spy? Posing as a tailor?”

Garak looked around cautiously, as if to check no one was listening. “I was a perfectly fine tailor. _Am_ , in fact. If you ever need a dress or uniform fitted, just visit my office on Earth, I’d be honoured to help you.”

Kenna playfully tapped on the ambassador’s arm. “Come on, tell me! It’s not like it matter’s anymore, does it? The Obsidian Order is gone, the Cardassians and the Federation are allies, the only thing that could possibly matter– I promise I won’t tell uncle _Julian_. Let lies be lies.”

Garak lifted the ridges on his forehead where a Human’s eyebrows would be. “It does matter, my dear, it’s about my honour! Tailors have a _code of honour_ , you know. There are some of things you pick up when taking a captain’s measures.”

As Garak finished his sentence, he felt a vibration in the left pocket of his trousers. His hand went toward the device in his pocket, and the subtle grin was wiped off the man’s face. “Excuse me, miss McIntyre. I have to leave.”

“Please, call me Kenna, _uncle_ Garak,” the bartender playfully threw after the Cardassian, but he was already gone.


	6. Chapter 5

AS THE BLUE-BROWN PLANET grew closer on the front viewscreen, Diru rose from her captain’s chair in the back of the lower section of the bridge. “Take us into a synchronous orbit, Commander Jasaiax.”

“Synchronous orbit, aye sir.” The Human woman who was sitting at the conn did as she was told. Her hands flew over had panel in a kind of dance. As she did so, the _Starlight_ crossed the last few kilometres until she entered an orbit around Cardassia Prime. “Synchronous orbit is achieved, Captain.”

Diru nodded. “Good.” She turned toward her first officer. “Commander, get our guests and meet me in the transporter room.”

Anderson nodded, and Diru walked over to the turbolift. As the turbolift doors closed, she heard the officer say, “Commander B.J., you gave the conn.”

Fujita made her way to the main transporter room on deck eight. Passing and greeting several junior officers, she reviewed the past sixteen days and the mission that was ahead of her.

The journey to Cardassia Prime had transpired almost eventless. The archaeological team – put together by Diru, Anderson and senior science officer Aridiya Neriouix, in accordance with specialist Eo-!-Ej – had met up daily to discuss the mission plans. Furthermore, Diru spent many an evening with Ambassador Garak and Eo-!-Ej, determined to be a benevolent host.

The only trouble the crew ran into during their just over two weeks long journey, were some slight problems in engineering. A few constrictors that stabilised the warp core had broken down. Lieutenant Ya’Mogh Q’Ara had solved each problem quickly, however.

Although she was not experienced with the investigation of archaeological or any kind of historical sites, Diru had quickly found her pace with the elected science team. She found the group consisted of a few very interesting officers; of course Lieutenant Neriouix, accompanied by Ensign Liv Janeway, Lieutenant Jastre Ochiovik, Ensign Victory Elois Dittmar, and lastly specialist Eo-!-Ei. Each officer had a degree in science, and various fields such as history, archaeology, sociology and anthropology.

Ensign Janeway was the real specialist among the bunch – besides Eo-!-Ej – despite of her tender age. Her proficiency in diplomacy, anthropology, archaeology, history, sociology, linguistics and arts made her the perfect officer for the project. Diru had more or less watched the girl grow up throughout her years of friendship with Admiral Kathryn Janeway, who’s sister Phoebe was Liv’s mother. The captain had seen the girl develop her love for arts and history, and had encouraged and mentored her enthusiastically when Liv had showed interest in Starfleet Academy at the age of fifteen – shortly after Fujita and Kathryn had returned to the Alpha Quadrant with _Voyager_.

Victory Elois Dittmar was also one of the younger officers aboard the _Starlight_. Diru had first met the girl while teaching at Starfleet Academy. She had taken the devoted cadet under her wing when her fellow classmates had rejected her, and she had personally requested the ensign – who had specialised in exobiology, xenology and biology – when she had composed her crew complement back in 2381.

Lastly, Neriouix and Ochiovik where the senior science and counselling officers, respectively. Diru had come to thrust them the past year and a half – although she had known the Betazoid Ochiovik for years, as they had been on _Voyager_ together – and always enjoyed working with them.

Diru entered the transporter room. She greeted Jean Stacy, the Human who was manning the transporters. “Good afternoon,” she said.

Stacy nodded politely. “You too, Captain.”

Diru turned toward the room’s doors, which slide open and let through Commander Anderson, Elim Garak and Eo-!-Ej.

“Captain,” Anderson uttered in a manner of greeting.

“Are you ready?” Diru eyed the away team. Each member of the team nodded, a resolute look in their eyes. These were experienced officers and their mission was a peaceful one. No reason to get nervous.

The four members of the away team walked to their respective places on the transporter pad – Eo-!-Ej taking up two places. When everyone was in place, Diru looked at Ensign Stacy. “Energise.”

*

The mission was a straightforward one. Diru and Garak were to go to the building that housed the Cardassian Government to discuss the terms and conditions of the investigation with Castellan Garan. In the meantime, Anderson and Eo-!-Ej were send off to pick up the scientist that was replacing the late Dr. Jovak Zorall: Engall Rhel.

Dr. Rhel lived in the north-western quadrant of Coranum, the oldest and most prestigious sector of the Cardassian capital city. This region was the closest to Tarlak, where the Capitol building was located, and housed the richest and highest Cardassian citizens, opposed to the southernmost region of Torr where the poorest civilians lived.

Anderson had never been on Cardassia Prime before, but had studied a map of the capital city and remembered the route to Rhel’s residence. It was about a half hour walk, mostly through the main streets of the city. Anderson noticed the streets were awfully quiet, nothing like he remembered from the videos he had seen of the place from before the Dominion War.

“This place is very beautiful, don’t you think?”

Anderson looked at the Ewi. “What isn’t the first word on my mind, if you’ll excuse my frankness.”

“I do. I’ve always had a love for alien architecture.” Eo-!-Ej waged zir tail in the direction of a building on the right from the pair. “Do you see the curve of that tower? I once read that the Cardassians use the golden ratio in all their structures”

“I wasn’t aware of that.”

The Ewi shook zir head. “Not many people are, but I find it thoroughly fascinating. Just as the colour of these buildings. It doesn’t mean much to my people, and I believe it doesn’t to yours either, but for the Cardassians it’s one of the colours they see clearest. They see the most details in calm, pastel colours. Truly fascinating.”

Anderson looked at the buildings around them, this time with a different idea in mind. He had never realised the Cardassian’s thought about their buildings so well. To him, they had always felt fairly simple – almost boring, all of them being the same shade of beige. He had never known about how these people see colours, but thinking about it, it made a lot of sense. To the Cardassians, were these houses like art?

It would make sense. Back on Earth, buildings were often considered art. Anderson had just never viewed the Cardassians as particularly artistic people. Although, maybe that was just a prejudice he had developed after the years of hostility between the Cardassian Union and the Federation. He had always considered them to be a very militaristic people – which they were, frankly, but perhaps that was not all they were.

While Anderson was thinking, he and the Ewi had continued walking down the Cardassian street, passing more of the same buildings and even encountering a small number of native Cardassians. They did not speak to the Cardassians or interact with them in any way, except for receiving the stares that were thrown in their – or mostly Eo-!-Ej – direction.

“Does it ever bother you?” Anderson asked his companion after they had passed yet another intrigued native.

“Excuse me?”

“Being stared at like that.”

The Ewi wagged zir long tail. “It’s not pleasant. I don’t like it, no.”

“I can imagine that, sir. I mean, for as far as I can while never having experienced something of the sort.” Anderson sounded genuine.

Eo-!-Ej lowered zir head. “It’s as if you’re famous, like everyone wants to know you, yet they’re scared of you at the same time. It’s very – bothersome, that’s the right word indeed.”

“I’m sorry that has to happen to you, Professor.” The Starfleet officer pursed his lips, feeling a pang of guilt as he realised that his own people could still be so inhospitable because of something so unimportant as origin.

“Oh well, I’ve grown used to it. And it’s gotten a lot better back on Trill, where people know me. Even on Earth when I was there; people stare less. I think they’re getting used to non-humanoids. That’s why I like your crew so much, they’re so diverse. I don’t feel like an outsider there – I think everyone is an outsider in a way among so many who differ from you, and that bonds you. I’m really amazed at how well all of you manage to work together, despite your differences. The rest of the world could use you as example.”

Anderson felt a waiver of pride glow through him at the words of the dinosaur-like being next to him. He knew that – even though he had not been connected to the _Starlight_ himself, yet – when Admiral Diru had put her crew together, this was exactly what she had been going for. Following the ideals of Captain Riker when _he_ had composed his crew for the USS _Titan_ , Diru had been determined to make the _Starlight_ the most diverse ship in the fleet, for the simple reason as to show that no matter where you’re from and what you look like, everyone can work together. She had wanted her crew to be a token of diversity – a Vulcan idiom came to mind: _Kol-Ut-Shan_ or Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations – and listening to the Ewi next to him, Anderson knew his captain had succeeded. Even if this ship could give just _one_ person hope for acceptance, they had succeeded.

Anderson and Eo-!-Ej turned into a street that crossed the one they had been walking on. This street was significantly more narrow, yet still bigger than most alleyways leading from the main street. The XO viewed the map he had stored in his memory. It was just a few more minutes to the house of Professor Rhel.

When the couple reached the building where Rhel lived, they paused in front of the door of the tall Cardassian building. Anderson thought it looked perfectly the same as any other building, but after Eo-!-Ej’s show of Cardassian archaeology, he dared think so no longer. He would probably violate one moral code or another – you never knew with alien cultures. Hell, he was not even sure about his own culture half of the time. _Let’s just stick with computers. They’re so much easier to understand_.

Scanning the wall around the room, Anderson discerned a small panel on the left side. A door chime. He touched the panel, and heard a ring from behind the closed door. After a few minutes, the door opened and showed the face of a burly Cardassian. The man wore the typical attire of a Cardassian civilian, although the edges of his cloth were slightly smudged and the shirt was just the smallest bit crooked.

The professor stared at the two officers from inside his house, the ridges in his grey face throwing a shadow over his dark eyes.

As Anderson wanted to step forward to introduce himself, Rhel started to speak. “Excuse me,” he said, and he turned back around into his house, slamming the door shut behind him.

Both Starfleet officers looked at each other, puzzled. Then the door reopened. This time, Rhel stepped outside, carrying a small grey container on a strap around his shoulder. Without a word, the scientist stepped past Anderson and Eo-!-Ej and charged down the street from where the two aliens had come just a moment ago.

“Pleasant fellow,” Anderson muttered under his breath when he was sure the Cardassian could not hear him.

Eo-!-Ej did not respond. Ze went after the professor, Anderson chasing zir tail – literally.

*

The walk back to the Cardassian Capitol had not been the most pleasant one. After Anderson and Eo-!-Ej had caught up with Professor Rhel, they had tried to introduce themselves, to no avail.

“Mr. Rhel, it’s a pleasure meeting you, sir,” Anderson had started. “My name is Commander Christopher Anders–“

“Do not inform me what I already know.”

 _Alright_. “Then let me introduce Lieutenant-Commander Eo-!-Ej, the leading archaeologist on our team.”

Rhel eyed Anderson, his piercing gaze burning into Anderson’s face, who had to make serious effort not to look away.

“I hope the rest of your _team_ will be _more_ satisfactory.” The Cardassian spit out his words with such contempt, that Anderson had to draw a breath in order to suppress his growing irritation. _What does this man have against us?_

Scanning the alien once again, Anderson realised that answer was straightforward. This was a Cardassian, after all. And although the Federation might be allied with the Union, surely not all Cardassians had accepted that alliance heartily.

He knew that better than most anyone.

It had been only four years after the gruesome assassination of the first castellan Alon Ghemor. The man had been killed for his close associations with the Federation – too close, according to some. Even before his assassination, Ghemor had faced great opposition by the anti-Federation Directorate, until his own political group had found a way to work together with this party.

The Directorate had been only one of a number of anti-Federation parties and movements. In the years after the Dominion War, Cardassia had become more and more divided between those who wished closer contact with the Federation, and those who wanted nothing to do with them. There were even those who were prepared to use force.

Anderson guessed Rhel was one of those people who did not particularly welcome the presence of the Federation on their home planet.

The rest of the journey back had passed in silence.

When the group did return, Diru and Garak were waiting for them.

“Ah! Mr. Rhel, what a pleasure to see you again!” Garak stepped forward before Diru had time to introduce herself to the professor.

Rhel looked disgruntled. “I’ve never met you before,” the man grumbled.

“I know.” Garak smiled that smile of his that always left you wondering whether he was genuinely happy, wanted to kill you, or simply had something to hide

Captain Diru stepped past Garak and extended her hand. “Mr. Rhel, I’m Admiral Fujita Diru. I believe you already know Ambassador Garak?”

Rhel uttered something again, but Anderson could not make out what. Instead, he turned toward his captain, who looked around the group.

“Let’s head up to the _Starlight_ , shall we?”

“About that, sir,” Anderson raised his hand, “if I may, could I be allowed to visit Galtec Street? I am hoping to find some clues as to Zorall’s death.” The street the XO was referring to was the street where the Cardassian scientist had been murdered.

Nodding, Diru said, “That’s a good idea. Have a good look around and see if you can find anything. We can use any information at all. I’ll meet you back on the ship in two hours.”

With that, the commanding officer turned toward the two Cardassians and the Ewi in front of her and ordered the transporter chief onboard the _Starlight_ to beam the four of them up.

After the transporting device had done its work and the four people had vanished, Anderson departed in the direction of Galtec Street, which lay in the eastern Paldar sector, the oldest and most bureaucratic region of the city.

After only a few minutes, however, the science officer turned into a small street adjacent to Cardassia City’s main street – a street which was not on the route to Galtec Street, as Anderson was completely aware of.

This street ran farther for about a few hundred meters, where it ended in the military Akleen sector. On its way, it passed close to the Capitol, which was were Anderson halted. He stepped into a nook on the side of the road, where he squatted down. Looking around carefully, he made sure no one was watching him.

The street was deserted.

Anderson then took a small bag out of his uniform – which he had miraculously kept hidden all this time. Out of the bag, he took the interplexing beacon which he had bought back on Earth, among with a number of other tech pieces. Carefully adjusting the settings on the equipment, he positioned them in a hole in the ground. He tweaked the beacon one last bit, then placed all the tech in the hole, hidden by the shadows and covered by a slab of stone made especially for this purpose. That was that for his spyware.

Getting back to his feet, the Human man crossed the street a little farther and then dove into an even smaller alleyway, where he almost bumped into a sturdy female Cardassian.

“Rakina!” he uttered softly, drawing the Cardassian’s attention.

The woman turned toward Anderson, her face unmoving except for the raising of her right ridge in the place where most humanoids had their eyebrows. “Apollo. I’ve been waiting for you.”

“Sorry to keep you waiting, milady.”

The Cardassian called Rakina preceded to a door in one of the houses along the alleyway. She took an old-fashioned key from her pocket and opened the lock that hung from the door. Opening the door, both walked inside.

Once they had entered the building, Rakina gestured for the Starfleet officer to be silent. She walked farther into the house herself, and entered the living room that lay past.

“Calrec, I’m home!” the Cardassian called. No answer came. Turning toward Anderson, the woman continued, “My husband is out.”

“Good.” At Rakina’s words, both she and Anderson went downstairs to the basement, where Rakina crossed over to a control panel and pushed a series of buttons. A door in the wall appeared, which slit open a second later.

In the room behind, a number of computers were positioned, manned by a small number of people from different species. Each of them was wearing a Starfleet uniform – in a way. The uniforms were entirely black, but not in the way Section 31 uniforms were black. Their design was the same as that of the common Starfleet uniform, with rank pips and combadge and all, simply a different colour.

Anderson walked over to the closest officer – a Bolian. “Hermes,” he said. “Status?”

The Bolian man spun around in his chair and faces his superior. “All clear, Apollo. No news, no detections. Code Blue.”

Anderson nodded. “Good work, sir Hermes. Asklepios!”

Another officer turned around at the sound of their codename. This one was a Human woman “Code Blue as well, sir. The government is clear.”

A voice sounded from behind, the Cardassian woman. “There has been no change since our last contact, Commander Apollo.”

“Well, Tyche, I suppose our dear extremists need a vacation too, every once in a while.”


	7. Chapter 6

THE JOURNEY TO PALROC III was a short one. It was only a 26 standard hour flight at warp 7 to the planet, which was about two lightyears from Cardassia Prime.

During the trip, Anderson had briefed his captain about his finds on the murder of Doctor Zorall, of which he had disappointingly little. The place of the murder had been thoroughly cleaned and had there had been left behind no traces of any kind. Anderson had been able to get a feeling of the place, however, which was at least a first step. The officer had noticed that although the street was surrounded by houses, only few of them would have offered a good place for a marksman to do their work, which decreased the likeliness of Zorall having been shot. That, and the fact that Anderson had already suspected the murder weapon would have been something in need of a closer range, something like a knife.

After Anderson had returned to the _Starlight_ , Diru had ordered the ship to depart for Palroc III right away. Now they had left Cardassia Prime, the time of worrying about the death of Dr. Zorall was over and the crew needed to make the last preparations for the archaeological investigation.

Now Dr. Rhel was onboard, the investigation team had a last run-through of the investigation with all attending officers. Diru had also invited a number of security officers, which she wanted to accompany the team to the planet’s surface. There was no saying whether Rhel – or possibly all of them – were in danger of assassination, just like Zorall.

This security team consisted of four members. Among them where the Tellarite Nia Dalur, who served as second hand of chief security and tactical officer Commander B.J. during the Alpha shift; Lelek’Yisag, her Beta shift counterpart and also a deflected Jem-Hadar soldier during the Domion War; Chegg, the non-humanoid watch security officer who reminded Diru somewhat of a large rhino; and finally a Beta shift junior tactical officer called Kelsef Sligur, who she asked along both for his melee skills and his tactical abilities. Diru had seen Kelsef – a member of the Kezjagur race – fight on the holodeck multiple times, and had been greatly impressed by the man’s skills. She had even sparred with him herself on one occasion, and it would be a lie if she said he had not made it hard on her, using all the strength and smarts in his large quadrupedal body, which resembled a combination of a lion and a goat, completely with antlers, hoofs and a gigantic set of sharp teeth.

Now, the _Starlight_ had arrived at Palroc III and the away team was making ready to depart to the planet. Diru was standing in cargo bay two, where the eleven other members of her team where gathered. Boxes and sets of tools where scattered all around them, each of them filled with the tools and equipment they would need for their investigation.

Diru slalomed around the boxes until she stood in front of her crew and the two guests. “Thank you, all of you, for being here,” she started. “In just a minute we’ll be beaming down to the planet. I thrust all of you know your job. Are there any questions before we depart?”

The room stayed silent.

“Good,” Diru nodded. Then she turned around and gestured toward the officer manning the bay’s transporters and the first crewmembers started to disappear as they were transported down to Palroc III. After all the officers had left, the captain faced the Vulcan behind the transporter console one more time and then felt the familiar disorienting effect of the transporter herself.

A few seconds later, Diru found herself standing at the shore of a bright blue river, her feet covered in tall green grasses. Right away, the woman could hear the buzzing of activity around her. She saw that the members of her crew had scattered around and were setting up their equipment in their assigned groups. Near the riverside, Diru saw Ochiovik and Eo-!-Ej, accompanied by security officer Nia Daelur, assembling a microbiological scanner. A little farther removed from the shore, Dittmar and Janeway were unboxing their own equipment, watched by Chegg and Lelek’Yisag.

Herself, Diru would be working with her Trill chief science officer Lieutenant Aridiya Neriouix and Professor Rhel. As the Human bent down to pick up her own bag of equipment and made ready to walk over to the lieutenant, a voice interrupted her.

“Admiral.”

The commanding officer looked back up, right in the face of her Cardassian guest. “Ambassador. How can I help you?”

“I want to request permission to join your research team.”

Diru raised an eyebrow. “My team? I thought you were working with Eo-!-Ej and Ochiovik.”

Garak nodded resolutely. “I am. However, I’m curious to see you work.”

“A, I see. You want to keep an eye me, don’t you? Report any off behaviour to your government?”

Diru said the words with a hint of humour in her voice. She was aware of the reputation that the Cardassian man had had during the time he had lived on the ex-Cardassian station _Deep Space 9_ in the Bajoran system. The Starfleet officers and Bajoran people on the station had deemed him a Cardassian spy for a long time – the admiral herself was among those who did for a short while when she served on _DS9_. A few years after Starfleet had established its presence on the station, it had become clear that Garak had in fact been an important member of the Cardassian Obsidian Order, but had now been exiled. Many had never fully started trusting him, however, and his reputation had always stayed a running joke between Diru and Garak. Diru vagely suspected that the Cardassian enjoyed his reputation.

The Cardassian did not respond to the tease.

“Alright, then.” Diru slung her back over her shoulder and brushed a stray strand hair out of her face. “Let’s go.”

The first step of the archaeological investigation was the so-called ‘reconnaissance survey’. This phase would start with a general walk over the terrain, in which the science teams would map the environment and any visible structures. Next, various scanning equipment would be employed for further charting of the buildings that were buried underground, and of any possible artifacts. Other technology would be used for a compound survey, to detect biological, chemical, electrical and various other type of elements at the site.

While the other teams were busy constructing their equipment to carry with them on their survey, Diru’s team would investigate with the naked eye. In such a technologically advanced society, the power of the biological eye was often underestimated, but it was surprising how much could be missed when relying solely on technology. That is why Diru had wanted her team to hold back their equipment for a while and have a good look around first.

The survey would start where they were now, the riverside. According to late Dr. Zorall’s preliminary investigation of the site, the city ran in a circle around both sides of the river. The oldest part of the city was located most in the middle, with the buildings growing older as the city got wider. Diru’s team would run the entire length of the northern half of the city, from riverside to the outside perimeter.

The city was located in a large valley withing a number of mountain formations. The valley itself was mostly made up of grassland, a few trees scattered about but no real forestation. With the wide view and hot temperature, the place reminded Diru somewhat of a savanna in Africa on Earth, just with greener grass and less animal life. In fact, the only animals Diru had seen so far were the few insects bussing around her head, which she tried to wave off with her hand.

All throughout the plains, small rock formations and pieces of walls and buildings were scattered about. In the hundreds of years since this city came to an end, the terrain had filled up with tons and tons of dirt, but not yet enough to cover every sign of civilisation. In fact, Diru could swear she was seeing the tip of a circular building just ahead of her. The roof seemed to have collapsed, but the walls were still standing and reached about a meter high up into the air.

The captain gestured for the rest of her team to follow her and walked over to the remains of that building. As soon as the five reached the stone wall, Aridiya Neriouix kneeled and carefully ran her dark fingers over the walls – Diru had still not allowed for any of them to open a tricorder.

“What do you make of it?”

“I think it’s… part of a building.”

Diru rolled her eyes at her science officer. “Obviously,” she smiled. “Do you have any more genius insights?”

Neriouix threw a playfully offended look at her captain, and returned her attention to the wall in front of her. She walked around the entire wall – which was a little less than twenty meters in diameter, by Diru’s estimate.

“The shape is similar to that of Bajoran towers in classical architecture.”

Diru recalled the Bajoran structures which she had seen last time she had visited Bajor – which was, what? Ten years ago? She really had to visit the planet again, it was one of the most beautiful in the quadrant. Many of the buildings had indeed been circular, a dodecagon if she recalled correctly.

Neriouix continued talking. “It’s really hard to say what exactly this is without knowing what’s underground. I can’t tell you any more without the use of my tricorder. Sorry, Captain.”

“That’s okay,” Diru said. “We’ll make a note of this building and return later when we’re done with this first survey.” The woman quickly eyed the Cardassian professor, who nodded in agreement. Apparently, he had no insights to add.

The rest of the survey was much of the same, Ever few tens of meters, the team would encounter a circular or squared building or separate walls, which they would scan with the naked eye and note in the developing map on their padds, after which they continued onward. After two hours of this, the team arrived the end perimeter of the city, where remnants of ancient city walls still remained. Once there, it was time for the group to trace their steps and return to the lakefront.

*

Eo-!-Ej walked over the terrain, zir tail wagging in untamed excitement. This was one of the biggest archaeological investigations the Ewi had been part of in zir two decades of service as science officer in the Federation, the first half of which ze spent at a Trill university, and the other half as Starfleet officer all around the quadrants.

In this time, Eo-!-Ej had been a part of many science projects, among which had been several archaeological ones – like the excavation of an ancient Aenar temple complex on Andoria Prime and the discovery of several buried cities on Trill – but also a few other types of research projects. This was definitely the most exciting one of all, however.

Eo-!-Ej looked around the valley in front of zir. Ze, Ochiovik and security officer Nia Daelur had been assigned to scan the northern half of the ancient city. Unlike Diru’s team, their objective was to use various scanning devices to map the structures above ground and underground.

As Ochiovik had assembled the tools – with a little help of the Tellarite Daelur, who had followed a few engineering courses when at Starfleet Academy – Eo-!-Ej had set out on a walk over the field to get a taste of the environment. Ze had noticed the pieces of wall that were scattered all around, and walked over to them to study them from up close. After having scanned a few of the formations like that, Eo-!-Ej decided it was time for a view of the bigger picture.

That, and ze wanted to stretch zir legs. Looking out over the plains, ze burst out into a quick trot, which soon became a wild sprint. That was the way zir species saw best, after all. They had grown up, evolved to run great distances. For a long time, it was all they did. They would run and run and only stop to eat. It was only a few years ago that the nomadic non-humanoid species had first settled down into cities. Small settlements at first, but gradually they grew out into vast stretched of buildings and houses. In those few hundred years, the had Ewi learned all they knew now about science, technology, about the world and the species around them.

But the taste for running had never left their blood.

Even now, while out in a strange place with unknown adventures and truths, the thing Eo-!-Ej wanted to do most was run. Or maybe _because_ of this place, not despite of. In the years ze had spent on Trill and scattered throughout the Federation, ze had not encountered many of such vast environments. Ze would not say ze had felt locked up, not in such words, but experiencing this freedom – ze now realised just how much ze had missed it.

After not too long – rather too short a while, in fact – Eo-!-Ej returned to where Ochiovik and Daelur were waiting for zir. The two women had just finished setting up their equipment, and were taking the first readings.

“What’s it look like out there?” Daelur asked.

Eo-!-Ej wagged zir tail. “The site mostly consists of plains with nothing more than lowly vegetation, a few trees here and there. All over, there are formations of rocks and bricks – their shape either round or rectangular, or too scattered to make out much. I must have come across over a hundred of these formations.”

“Must’ve been a busy city.”

“Have you detected anything, yet?”

Ochiovik nodded, still manipulating the controls on the bioscanner in front of her. “Not much, but that’s the interesting part. We’ve detected various chemical compounds, but no biological ones. Nothing humanoid, anyway. Which is very, very curious. A city this big… even if everyone just packed up and left one day, there should still be a burial site somewhere. I know the Bajorans bury their dead. And – since we don’t know what ended this colony, after all – if some kind of disaster happened and the people here suddenly started dying, we should definitely have detected biological residues. But there’s nothing. Nothing at all.”

“How is that possible?”

Ochiovik raised her hands to her head and rubbed her cheeks. “It shouldn’t be,” she said, her mind clearly racing to find an answer. “Not somewhere where people lived. There have to be some humanoid remains.”

“Or someone… something cleared this place _very_ thoroughly.” Both Eo-!-Ej and Ochiovik faced the Tellarite security officer.

“Why? Why would they?”

The Ewi officer thought for a moment. “I’m sure we could find a reason. I just don’t think it’s very probable.”

“Neither do I.”

*

“Hey, Dittmar! Have a look here!”

Liv Janeway sat huddled between the walls of a rock structure. The space was so narrow that she had to press her back against the stone in order to get a proper view of the wall in front of her.

Victory Elois Dittmar poked her head round the corner of one of the walls.

“What do you have?”

“Not sure. Look here.” Janeway traced a piece of the stone with her fingers. “Does this look like something to you?”

Dittmar shook her head. “Something, sure. But other than a piece of rock, I wouldn’t know what you’re getting at.”

“Don’t you see this?” Janeway tilted her head to get a better view of the wall. “This looks like the outline of… well, something. See here? That’s not rock, that’s dye – something brown. I think there used to be a wall painting here.”

“Really?”

Janeway nodded and turned toward the humanoid next to her. “You really don’t see it?”

The young woman shook her head again. “I’m sorry, I really don’t. I suppose my eyes just aren’t as trained as yours. You’re an artist, aren’t you?”

“Yep, born and raised.”

“Well, Janeway, I suppose you got a step ahead of us non-artistic people. I really don’t see anything else than ordinary rock.”

“Call me Liv, please. My last name is so formal.”

“Alright. If you call me Victory.” Dittmar smiled at her colleague.

Then both officers returned their attention to the wall.

“If you really think this is some kind of artwork, do you think the captain would want to see this? I haven’t heard any other mentions of something like this. I’m sure it could be useful.”

Janeway brushed a stray strand of hair out of her face. “You might be right.” While Ditttmar removed herself and activated her combadge, the other woman then lifted herself over the wall and called toward the two security officers who were watching them from a distance, where they had patiently sat down in the tall grass. “Lelek, could you bring over that molecular compensator, please?”

The big Jem’Hadar turned toward Janeway at the sound of her voice, and got up. He walked over to where the team’s equipment was waiting and picked up one of the large devices.

 _It’s good we have these big aliens in out team_ , Janeway thought. _I would never have been able to carry that myself_. Granted, Janeway was a fair bit smaller than the average Human with her 156 centimetres, but some of the equipment was also ridiculously heavy. _Why do they make it like that? It’s supposed to be_ mobile _!_

As Lelek’Yisag brought over the molecular compensator, Janeway saw Captain Diru nearing from the other side of the structure they were currently studying. “Captain!” she called, and she waved enthusiastically.

Diru raised a polite hand, but kept quiet until she was in speaking distance. “What did you find, ensigns?” she said.

Dittmar spoke first. “Ensign Janeway thinks we’ve found a wall painting, sir.”

“A painting?”

“It’s pretty withered away,” Janeway answered, “but I’m positive it’s some kind of art. Look–” she pointed the molecular compensator on the wall and activated the device. The contours of a humanoid body lit up from the wall. “–it’s right there. Oh! It actually is a painting!” She tilted her head. “It think that’s a Bajoran, isn’t it?”

The three women stared at the image of the artwork that the molecular compensator was projecting at the wall.

“Is it?” Dittmar furrowed her pointed brows, which looked slightly angry under the bones protruding from her forehead.

“It’s not like any Bajoran I’ve ever seen before” Diru responded. She pointed at the shape’s face. “See that forehead? It’s got a rigged nose, alright, but that’s not a Bajoran forehead.”

“It doesn’t have an earring either. All Bajoran’s wear those, don’t they, sir?”

Diru nodded. “Generally. Frankly… that face doesn’t look Bjoran at all, apart from the nose.”

“That professor Zorall, he said this was a Bajoran colony, didn’t he?” Janeway bit her lip. “Could he have been wrong?”

Diru said, “I doubt it. But something strange is going on here. I need to hear what someone with a little more knowledge about the Bajorans has to say about this.” The captain pushed her combadge. “Diru to Kalan.”

Soon, the voice of Kalan Hayatta sounded through Diru’s communicator. “ _Kalan here, sir._ ”

“Lieutenant, I need you to get down here.”


End file.
